If someone had told me when I joined university that in my final year I would have the ability to hand code PHP, be proficient in version controlling and deploying my work, have no fear of Terminal and would even have to turn away potential clients, I would have laughed and carried on making my Michelin star quality baked beans on toast.

Since working in the web, I have developed this constant feeling that everyone knows more than I do and that I must learn these skills to turn, what was once a hobby, into an actual career. What I have realised this year however, is that I have gained skills I used to pine for without ever knowingly sitting down and learning them. I'm not saying I haven't tried to learn them (I am guilty of purchasing various books that remain unopened on my desk), I have just found that these skills somehow find their way into my brain and this is purely from experience and a willingness to learn.

I am convinced that if you work in the web, you are never at a level where you know everything you want to know and that is a good thing

I believe that by asking questions to the people around you and by working on actual projects, whether that be for a client, university project or experimenting yourself, you can learn so much more than than any book or lecture can teach you. I am convinced that if you work in the web, you are never at a level where you know everything you want to know and that is a good thing. Having a constant drive to learn more gives you a direction to follow and on that journey you will pick up the skills you deemed too difficult six months prior. It doesn't matter how much I wish I knew what Oliver Ash was talking about on Twitter or how sweet Dan Eden's portfolio is - I will always be a few years behind and that is cool.

So with that in mind, for 2014 I would like to learn proper Javascript as I think jQuery has made me somewhat lazy; learn a PHP framework with MVC and use it comfortably; begin using Git from the Terminal without breaking things (Gitbox is driving me mad) and adopt Grunt as opposed to my old friend CodeKit. I am sure this time next year not everything on that list will be ticked off but if 2013 was anything to go by, from giving myself a push in the back to experiment with new things in my work, I will pick up various skills that I never consciously tried to learn.

Clever our brains, ya know!